djenne djenno

I am Sophie, a Swedish woman by birth but English by adoption. I have a little mud hotel in the beautiful and ancient West African town of Djenne, Mali. WWW.HOTELDJENNEDJENNO.COM Because of unstable political
situation, tourism has ground to a halt. Hotel still open! But hotel staff mainly working in Bogolan studio now: www.malimali.org check out our fab online shop!

Monday, January 19, 2015

I am no longer Charlie.

Ibelieve the
French governmentshould have censored
the new issue of Charlie Hebdo.

Instead,
with predictable French arrogance the new, post-massacre issue of Charlie Hebdo
was defiantly putting two fingers up to the Muslim communities of the world by insisting
on yet another cartoon of Mohammed thereby provokinghundreds of thousands of Muslims to take to
the streets to demonstrate their frustration and anger at what they feel is blasphemy
of the highest order. To allow the new cartoons to appear washighly irresponsible and it wasan incitement to violence: several people have died in the
demonstrations that ensued and the Christian communities of a country like the
Niger,where they have previously been left in peace have now been attacked and
their churches set on fire.

And yes, actually, I am in favour of freedom of
expression, democracy and all the other normal values! (which the French seem
to think they monopolize by their insistance on the ‘Republican Values’ of Liberté,Fraternité, Egalitéas if the monarchies of Scandinavia,
Holland , Belgiumand the UKwere not equally democratic !)

Yes, I believe in freedom of expression. Nevertheless, doesthe ‘freedom of expression’ of a handful of
privileged western cartoonists to draw whatever they like justify causing the
worldwide sincere anguish ofMuslims?We may not understand
them, we may think they areexaggerating
and have no sense of humour but the fact remainsthat even moderate muslims are offended.Does it not exacerbate and inflame an already very volatile and difficult world- wide situation? Will it
not turn even moderate Muslims into extremists? And does it justify the jeopardizing of the safety of
thousands of Christians who live in Muslim communities and who are becoming the
innocent targets of their misguidedzeal?

Charlie Hebdo argues that they stand not only for freedom of speech but also for freedom of religion and that they would defend the right of a Muslim - or anyone else to believe in whatever they liked. This is too sophisticated an argument and to irrelevant to the large majority of Muslims; many of whom are illiterate and most of whom don't even know what is written or drawn in the magazine: they have only been told second or third hand by their Imam that it contains an insult to their faith and that it is their duty as a good Muslim to defend their religion.

There is already censorship in place in all democratic
countries which promote ‘Freedom of Expression’, including in France. For
instance it is against the law to be a ‘holocaust denier’ and to promote
Nazism. Itseems to be particularly the Jewish sensibilities that enjoy
the protection of the establishment and of the liberal masses. Although an
orthodox Jew appears in a trio in a cartoon with a Christian and a Muslim in
the latest issue I do not believe that Charlie Hebdo has attacked and lampooned
Judaism in the same way that is has lampooned Islam and Christianity-
especially Catholicism. Judaism is something of a Holy Cow. Now; the Christians
are pretty robust, they are used to it. But the Muslims are clearly not able to
see the funny side of a cartoon of Mohammed. So therfore; for goodness’s sake,
or indeed for God’s sake let’s stop
drawing cartoons of Mohammed!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Calligraphy Competition

The Harmattan swept in with dusty forcethis morning and threathened to tear apart
the make shift shelter that had been put up for the Djenné dignitaries who had
assembled for the prize giving ceremony of the Djenné Manuscript Library. As
always at such events the heavyweight authorities –the Maire and the Prefect-
arrive at least an hour later than scheduled making everyone wait while the
loudspeakers are broadcasting melodious readings from the Koran.

Nevertheless we finally got
going and I said my little word aboutPeaceand the theme of the texts
chosen: ” Islam, a Religion of Peace.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind there had been a thought
that I would suggest that one of the calligraphers write ‘We are Charlie” in Arabic on a
sign that we could all hold up in front of the Library. But I had already rejected
this idea as being too manipulative- it
would have been all my idea of course. I nevertheless asked what Babou and
Yelpha thought about it, just out of interest. Babou didn’t know what it meant, but Yelpha explained
to him that it referred to the Paris events, and Babou had of course heard
about this. Their opinion -and that of most of the dignitaries present I guess-
was that it had certainly been an exaggeration and a crime to kill the journalists, but
that these had nevertheless committed a crime against Islam by making cartoons
of the Prophet. I don’t really believe that freedom of expression and of the press
is a concept that is of much importance here in Djenné...

So instead we made a sign for Angela, our faithful sponsor
from Germany who sent MaliMali Projects some money again which we used for the
calligraphy competition this time.

These are the winners: 1st 2nd and 3rd
in order from the left. I personally wanted the second as the winner- it is
quite decorative and finely done- but I had to bow to the calligraphy masters
among the judges.We got 25 entrants
this time and everyone used traditionalinks, having taken part in a training workshop organized by the library in
the run- up to the competition. No girls or women participated this time around alas- when I
asked what happened to the girls that took part a couple of years ago I was
told that they had got married. “Is there something in Islam that says that
married women can’t do calligraphy anymore?” I enquired and was told that no,
in fact there was no such thing. I suggested that next year we shouldtry and encourage the participation of the
married women- and the Koran masters and Marabouts told me that they would speak
to their husbands to see if they would allow it...

Monday, January 12, 2015

A Turbulent Day (so far, and it is only 14.30!)

Yes, even by Djenné standards today has been exceptional –
and as we know, life here is “the square root of Emotional Rollercoasters”
inBirgit’s apt phrase.

It started quite sedately this morning at the Djenné
Manuscript Library with the judging of the Calligraphy Competition with the
theme: “Islam; a Religion of Peace”. Ichoose the three winners among the 25 entrants together with the other
judges which included Samake and five Djenné Koran Masters and Calligraphy experts. This
happened without incident and more about this tomorrow when we are having the
Prize giving ceremony at the Manuscript Library...

During the meeting at the library I received a phone call
from the Commandant du Peloton- that
means the head of the Gendarmerie
here.He was at the hotel and wanted to
see me urgently “Nous avons un petit
problem” as he put it. When I arrived at the hotel I found the Commandant
with another gendarmesitting with Papa and a young Fulani man. The latter
had put in a formal complaint against Papa regarding an unpaid debt of 500 000FCFA
(770E). He accused Papa of Escroquerie
; that is to say fraud. The commandant said that he knew that Papa worked at
the hotel and he had decided to come to see me before arresting Papa and simply
throwing him in jail- which is what would happen unless the money was found
today.

I was told that Papa had borrowed the money from the
Fulani on behalf of someone else. The Fulani in his place had also borrowed the
money from someone else: the forth link in this chain of debt. Papa had
apparently told the Fulani that he would be repaid in three days, but he had
not been able to come up with the money. This was now several weeks ago.

I said that judging from the facts that had been presented
to me it was not a question of fraud but only of non- payment of debt; which to me did not seem to be the same thing.
Papa had thought that he was going to be
able to repay the money but he had been mistaken. The commandant said that it
was not the whole story and that there were other details which made it
possible to label it ‘fraud’ and that he wanted Papa to tell me himself. So I
took Papa aside, bringing Baba also for support .I asked him to tell me the whole truth: what were the details that the commandant was talking about? I said that unless he told me
the truth I was not willing to help him. Papa came up with something outlandish
about false bank notes; saying that it
was the Fulani and the Commandant who wanted to put him in jail and that he
was innocent. Little by little I surmised that Papa had lent the money to a
person who was fabricating false bank notes. Papa knew about it and he had been
told that he would get a cut in the profit if he could come up with the money;
at least that is what I believe happened. I kept asking Papa: ‘What is the
truth in this? If you are innocent please tell me what actually did happen and
I will consider helping you.’ Papa could not come up with anything convincing;
in fact he said nothing. I took Baba aside and asked his opinion. He said: “He
is not clean in this affair”. I now called Keita who once he had been given the
details told me to keep out of it and to
have nothing to do with it whatsoever. ‘But what are we going to do? I
objected. ‘We need a chef! We can’t let them throw him in jail!’ Keitasaid that for a start there would be no
problem finding a chef in Djenné to replace Papa: there are at least three good
chefs queuing up for the privilege of becoming the only chef in Djenné whois being paid regularly and secondly Papa
would find the money anyway: I was absolutely not to get involved. Meanwhile Papa was wandering backwards and
forwards in the court yard talking on his mobile phone.

I now went over to the Commandant and thanked him for his
consideration in comingto see me and
giving me a chance to pay for Papa but that we had decided that we were not
going to pay. Papa then stepped in and apparently his emergency phone call had
been fruitful because he said that he would come up with the money before
nightfall. The Commandant, his collegue and the Fulani went on their way and I was
just about to sit down and catch my breath for a moment to digest this momentous
event when Bob turned up; and another drama, this time of life and death unfurled...

Bob the tailor is one of my oldest friends in Djenné- see
blogsearch above-. Malimali has helped him many times to find money: to buy a
sewing machine; to set up his atelier
in town, to pay for a hernia operation etcetc. Bob the tailor is the brother of
Alpha: the longsuffering, kind but
rather hamfisted tailor who is now working
in the MaliMali studio. When I saw Bob arriving I knew already what his visit
was about. It was a question of their third brother who is gravely ill.

The elder brother of Bob and Alpha had gone into the bush
to harvest millet. While he washarvesting he developed a tooth ache but did nothing about it apart from
taking paracetamol . When he returned from the harvest about ten days ago his
whole throat and neck had swollen up and he was already suffering from a serious infection. Bob and Alpha took him
to Djenné hospital where after consultation with a doctor a senior nurse
lanced the abcess and he was prescribed and administered antibiotics. He was to
return every day for the redressing of the wound.

A couple of days later there was no improvement and
apparently a new type of stronger antibiotics were prescribed which were to be
injected. Bob and his brother had spent their last money- meanwhile the state
of the brother was rapidly declining and
he was slipping in and out of consciousness. Yesterday Alpha was in tears at
the sewing machine. The wife of the elder brother arrived , crying at the studio
to ask help from Malimali: they had all been up all night by the sick bed. I called
Keita in Segou and asked him to get involved. He spoke to the staff at the
hospital and promised that Malimali would take charge of the medical
expenses from now on. He was satisfied that what could be done was being done
for the man. Keita said that even if he were to be taken to Mopti hospital
there would be little else that could be done for him apart from dressing the
wound and giving antibiotic injections. We told the family to be patient , to
let the medication take its course and to pray.

Therefore, when I saw Bobtoday I was hoping he was bringing good news about an improvement. Alas
no. He came with an evacuation order from the hopital here- his brother needed
to go to Mopti urgently. This morning when they removed the dressings they
discovered that the neck and the throat had more or less been eaten away. Bob was crying and
saying he did not have the money to bring him to Mopti. I called Keita, who
said that he had spoken to the hospital staff and in fact there is no way that he is going to be able to survive. To evacuate to Moptimight
bring us huge expenses at the hospital. I wanted to know whether if it was certain
that the patient was going to die, it would not be possible just to administer some morphine or
other palliative care? Keita said that the medical staff are programmed to try
and keep people alive and that they would put him onto whatever life support machines
are available; they would only communicate the cost of the treatment. Oh dear, what
to do??

Bob said he had someone who was willing to lend their car
for the transport to Mopti- he needed only the money for the diesel. I decided
in consultation with Keita that it was necessary to give some money in order
for the evacuation to Mopti- only really for the feelings of Bob and Alpha. We
gave 50 000 FCFA(E77) from
Malimali- it will give enough for the diesel and for some treatment in Mopti. I
said we could not give anything else.

This is a sorry tale indeed: this man is on the way to Mopti hospital as I write
this. But even ifhe makes it to Mopti
he will die quite needlessly from a simple case of caries! There is no dentist
in Djenné. People with toothache either have
their tooth pulled out or else they go to Mopti or Bamako but even then the dentistry
is fairly rudimentary but it is a question of lack of material and not of knowledge: there are plenty of
qualified dentists in Mali!

Friday, January 09, 2015

First Andrea and then the Islamist Problem...

Writing once more from a paracetamol induced twilight
zone.The blasted cold has returned in
force today because last night Baba and I had to go on a rescue mission at
sunset and into the night on our motorcycles looking for my friend Andrea, the
Brazilian Amazon who went riding on Petit Bandit at 4.30 last night: by 6.15
pm she had not yet returned.

Baba and I went
crashing through the bush almost as far as Diabolo as night was rapidly
falling, asking every stray person we met: women carrying faggots home to
prepare for their evening meal or home ward -bound Fulani shepherds with their
flocks: ”Have you seen a Toubabo Muso
on a horse?” Noone had. In my mind I wasalready making plans as I was bumping along the path behind the great
clouds of dust from Baba’s motorcycle: one for how to proceed ifif she turned out to be dead: I would contact the Brazilian ambassador straight
away and he would have to sort it ; I would get the telephone number through Eva (my friend the Swedish
ambassador). Another plan wasforming
simultaneouly for if she wasn’t dead but badly injured. In that case Ace and I
would bundle her into the old Mitzubishi
pick- up and take her to Mopti hospital.
I decided that it would not matter that there were no papers for the pick -up
and that normally we can’t travel anywhere where we might be stopped by
gendarmes asking annoying questions such as: where is your Carte Grise? (The ownership papers. There are none, but that is
another long story for another time...) I have always thought that in an
emergency such as the one last night it would still be possible to travel to
the hospital inMopti or Bamako in the old pick- up: if we were stopped I
would just bark-“let us through! There is a dying Toubab in the back!” In my
opinion the gendarmes would not put up any resistance...

Since our search was proving fruitless and since darkness
was profound by then, we eventually turned back.

When we arrived at the hotel we found the blasted girl
sitting in the barquite safe and sound
sipping a ginger juice!“Oh, I was
having such a nice time! We went so far into the bush in one direction that at
sunset I realized that it would take at least three quarters of an hour to
return! And I forgot to bring my telephone...”

Of course; maybe I shouldn’t have worried too much. I knew
Andrea had grown up in the saddle on a large farm in the south of Brazil after
all. So we became friends again and even started to plot: why doesn’t Andrea
buy a mare and then we can go riding together and also see if there might not
be a foal by Petit Bandit? My donkey family seems to be multiplying but however
lovely Betty the donkey foal is, it is not quite the same thing... I would love
to have a real foal at Hotel Djenné Djenno after all these years and all these
horses!

All the above was just a pre-amble actually in order to
explain why I am writing in a state of feverish semi-stupour. Therefore it may
well be that I am not going to be able to express exactly what I would like to
say. But it needs to be said today so I will have a go...two things, really:

I have not had either time or a connecton good enough to follow
exactly the debate that is raging at the moment in the news and in the social
media regarding the shocking Charlie Hebdo event. Therefore what I am about to
say may well have been said already. I know for instance that there was an
article in the Times (which I have not read) but the gist of which seems to be:
this would never have happened in the UK because British journalists and
cartoonists would never have gone that far in their provocation of the Muslim
radicals. Now this is an interesting question: Should this be regarded as
cowardice or simple good manners, not wanting to offend? Did the cartoonists perhaps go too far? I have not made up my mind of what I think about this...

Nevertheless; all educated liberals
of the world stand united in our condemnation, and this must be so and it is
good. Everyone is falling over themselves trying to make the differentiation between ‘proper Islam’ and
these murderous ‘Islamists’.I too in my
little way here in Djenné have decreed that the theme for the calligraphy
competition at the library next week (sponsored by MaliMali) is “Islam: a
Religion of Peace”; and the texts that have been chosen for the calligraphy
have been chosen in the Koran to reflect this theme.

The Muslim communities of the world have spoken their
condemnation of this event via many religious leaders and via their imams in
many cities of the world. But I don’t think that it is enough! The “real “ Muslims
of the world, all those that abhor the behaviour of the Taliban; Al-Quaida ; Isis ; Boko Haram et al need to
form an energetic movement for peace in order to show the world that their
Islam has been hi-jacked. It cannot be left to the liberal masses of agnostic
post-Christians to fight the politically correct battle for Islam! Get yourself
together and save the face of your own religion- we may help you as well as we
can in the name of peace and understanding but if you want to save the
reputation of your religion it is YOUR duty to do so with more vigour than you
do now!

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

P.S. for Charlie Hebdo

In retrospect it is- or should be- impossible to say anything else today than to deplore the terrible attack in Paris on the editorial team of Charlie Hebdo. Watching France 24 now: someone just quoted Voltaire's words, which are absolutely appropriate: Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites mais je défends jusqu'à la mort votre droit de le dire....
(I don't agree with what you say , but I will defend until death your right to say it)

The Pursuit of Dreams in The Gold Fields of Mali.

I have been suffering from the most annoying and
persistant cold for the last three weeks. Having a coldcan be nearly a pleasant thing: to be allowed to lie down
all day in a state of semi- slumberwhile sipping a lemsip or a hot whisky and lemon toddy every four hours
or so can be endured without too much complaint for a day or two. But this is
lingering boringly and anyway I am up and about now, having taken advantage of
the two day bed allowance a long time ago... and the worst thing about this
cold is that it is making me stupid. I really can’t think properly and I am being
beaten every time at level 3 on my computer chess which is depressing me no
end. And then Birgit left and the Christmas décorations came down yesterday to boot.

Therefore I am sulking and not intending to write anything
of any note. However, a dear French friend just wrote to me saying that she
looks in on this journal every day and is so disappointed if there is nothing
new! Oh, dear. There is only one remedy to that: I will have to post something
that I wrote in the spring with Maman: an article that I have tried to sell to no avail. Should anyone have any ideas on a
publication which may be interested, please let me know, and perhaps it is not
too late if I take it off the blog immediately? You may recall that Maman left
us last year to go in search of Adventure; but that he came back again? Well;
this is the story of what he did:

The Pursuit of Dreams in The Gold Fields of Mali.

I have a mud hotelin the ancient city of Djenné, Mali.The hotel has remained open despite the multi-facetted crisis that has
shaken Mali in the last couple of years which has destroyed the country’s once
flourishing tourism industry. To our barman/waiter Maman life in Djenné no
longer held the same excitement as before when the town was one of Mali’s
premier tourist destinations because of its spectacular mud architecture, and about
a year ago Maman wanted to leave his employment at Hotel DjennéDjenno and go in
search of adventure.

We did not hear from him for a few months until one
day he suddenly returned. He had been in the goldfields of southern Mali and
northern Guinea : an inhospitable area where water is scarce but which has
always attracted adventurers because of its gold deposits. But rather than
finding his fortune Maman had lost the little money that he had earned and he
now wanted his job back. We agreed to this gladly, since Mamanis apopular
member of staff. His tales of his experiences were fascinating, revealing a
dark world which I did not know existed.I wanted to find out more so I decided to send him back on an under-cover
mission.I lent him my camera for a
fewweeks and he practised taking
pictures. We then devised a questionnaire aimed at the people working in the
gold fields which asked questions such as : ‘how long have you been
here ?’ ‘ did you come here of your own free will or did someone send
you ?‘ how much did you earn last
week ?’ ‘Do you use prostitutes ?’‘What will you do with your money if you find a lot of gold ?’ etc.
I wanted to know what drove these people on to suffer the hard-ships that Maman
had described to me. Was it simply the wish for personal riches?

Maman’s brief was to take up with his former collegues
and work as normal. At the same time he was to ask the questions as discreetly
as possible. A special questionnaire was prepared for the sex workers, of which
he told me there are many. I was interested in seeing whether the vigorous
campaigns of awareness making about protection from HIV/Aids which have been
undertaken for the last decade in Mali have had any effect. The price for
seeing a prostitute is between 1000 and 2000 CFA. ( 1000 CFAis approx.£ 1.20) Maman was given a budget in
order to be able to talk to the girls. The other workers were not to be paid.
The night before Maman set off our journalist friend Levy met up with us and
gave Maman some advice. In particular hewas to make sure that he was never alone for security reasons. Maman
agreed that this was necessary and said that it was already an accepted
rulein the goldfields for the chilling
reason that human sacrifice is known to be practised. The next day he left.

The artisanal
goldfields of the Mandé region of
southern Mali and northern Guinea which was Maman’s destination form a direct
link to Mali’s glorious past : in the middle ages Mali was awash with
gold. Most of the gold of the European courts came from here, winding its way
north by means of the transsaharan trade routes. The Malian emperor Mansa Musa[1]made a pilgrimage to Mekka in 1324 famously
devastatingthe economy of the region by
the sudden influx of gold which devalued the metal for the next decade. Since
those glory days Mali’s fortunes have changed dramatically.Thisland locked Sahel countrynearly twice the size of Franceis now one of
the poorest countries in the world. In addition Maliisstruggling to recover from theAQMI [2]-
led invasion of the north which brought it to the brink of annihiliation,narrowly averted by the intervention of
France, the former colonial masters in 2013.

However
there are still rich gold deposits in Mali which countsas Africa's number three gold producer behind
South Africa and Ghana. The lion’s share of the mining is carried out by large
corporations such as Anglo Gold Ashanti and Randgold Resources using conventional open pit mining techniques. According
to the Malian mining Minister Boubou Cisse Mali is
forecast to produce 50 tonnes of gold this year. Artisanal mines such as those
in the goldfields of Mandé make up four tonnes of this total. The work is
dangerous for several reasons : badly supported mine shafts often collapse
and a highly toxic amalgam with mercury is used to extract the gold from the
ore. Children are often used as workers and particularly sensitive to the
poisonous fumes.[3]

Malian
authorities are not in favour of artisanal mining because it is difficult or impossible
to regulate and there is no tax system. ‘We don’t have a penny from it’ says
LassanaGuindo, the president of Mali's national direction of geology and mines.
Plans are being made to outlaw traditional mining. It is hard to see how this
will work : for a thousand years the goldfields of Mandé have excerted an
irresistible pull for all those who seek fortune and who dream of a brighter
future. ‘Aller à l’Aventure’ (to go
in search of adventure) is a deeply rooted concept in the Malian consciousness.
Like the heroes of a Greek tragedy the young men will leave theirvillages in order to seek material gain hoping
to return eventually in glory. Many go north and brave the terrifying hardships
of the desert in order to attempt to cross illegally to Europe. Others are
lured by the tales of easy riches gained in the goldfields of Mandé in southern
Mali. They have one thing in
common : they cannot return home empty handed. And for the multitudes that
are lost there continues to be the occasional success story which
perpetuates the dream.

On his
return to Mandé, Maman found that the circumstances had changed : everyone
was complaining of the lack of gold in the area recently and he was not able to
join a team to work as he had before. His former work mates nevertheless
allowed him to join them, to take pictures and to interview them and Maman
stayed for two weeks. The centre of his investigations was the village ofDegedoumou close to the Guinea border in
Mali. This is a village whose sole raison
d’etre is gold : its inhabitants are made up of all the different
rangs that account for the gold trade : there are the ‘patrons’ :
those that own a gold prospecting metal detector; the gold workers who dig the
surface ; the workers who operate the machines that crush the ore ;
the women who wash the ore; the gold dealers which weigh the week’s
findings on small scales; the workers who perform the most dangerous task :
those that descend into the mine shaft which can be up to 20 meters deep with
tunnels that reach out horizontally from the central shaft:

‘My name is Malik Traoré.
I am 20 years old, aMalian from
Kolokani. I have worked in the mine which is dug in the shape of a well shaft
for oneyear and three months. I was
sent here by my parents to work. Our boss gives us 1000 CFA a day. We are a
team of six people digging in rotation ; that is to say 3 people descend
into the mine between 6am and midday and 3 people take the midday to 6pm shift.
There are women too who pull up the earth from the mineshaft by rope. All day
is passed digging. As far as working conditions go there are lots of
difficulties : there is not enough food and the water is barely drinkable.
If we fall ill we have to pay for the medicine ourselves, and even then there
is often not sufficient medical supplies and we don’t even have a
hospital : it is just a shack made from black plastic sheeting. I am not
at all happy about the working conditions.Yes, I have relations with prostitutes. I go there a couple of times a
week, but I use condoms to save my health’.

Malick will get a share of the gold
that is found as well. The gold is taken to the market at the end of the week
and weighed and sold by the ‘patron’,
the small scale lease holder of the particular well-shaft. He or she ( there
are several female ‘patronnes’ ) will
take half of the earnings and the other half is divided between the six
workers. The week before nothing was found.Malik’s work is considered the most dangerous of all the occupations and
it is the only work which is given a guaranteed income.The hand dug underground passages often
collapse causing the death of the miners. There are mud pillars put in place to
support the underground tunnels but these are not left alone should a miner
have an idea that they may contain a gold seam. The miners are often high on
cannabis in order to be able to bear the working conditions and this makes them
lose their judgment sometimes with fatal consequences.

At the end of his work Malik makes
his way back to his makeshift home : a shack made from little but plastic
sheeting. On his way back he passes the centre of Degedoumou : here he
could have a shower if he wanted to, there are several shower units in place
but water is expensive. It costs 200 francs to take a shower. Workers are often
obliged to go without washing if they have not found any gold.He continues along the way until he reaches the
row ofgirls that are standing by their
plastic shelters, waiting for customers. The girls are calling for him as
usual. There is Fatoumata from GuineéConacry, Wodia from
KanKanGuineé ;there is Mariam from
the Ivory Coast ; Hawa from Bamako ; Ramata from Gao and Fatouthe Burkinabe :

« I am FatouSankara. I am 23 years old and from Burkina Faso. I was
married but my husband divorced me so that is why I am working here as a
prostitute.I have not been to school and I have no professional training. It
was my own decision to come here. If I manage to save some money I hope to send
to my parents, and I would like to build a house. I would like to learn to be a
hairdresser and then open my own salon. Once I have achieved that I think I
will stop this sort of work. I am not happy with this situation because we have
too much trouble with our‘patron’. He
tells us that if we don’t find any clients we won’t get anything to eat. Also,
I miss my parents who are far from me. I have experienced violent treatment from
my clients and often the sex is rough. That is the reason we insist that the
clients use a condom. Last week I didn’t get enough clients and I only earned
8000 francs. »

The womenall said that they keep the money they earn
and do not have to pay a percentage to the person they call their ‘patron’ who is however their provider of
accommodation and food and therefore takes payment for these services. The
enforcement of this payment is harsh and many girls complain of ill treatment.
Wodia from KanKan in Guinea said she only gains5- 7 boys per week which earns her 5000-7000 francs and that it is not
enough for her basic needs. Wodia has been in Degedoumou for 6 months. She was
sent there by her parents. If she finally earns money she would also like to
open a hair dressing salon, and she wants to give her parents money.

Not all girls are complaining however.
The beautiful RamataTouré is 26 years old from the war torn city of Gao in
Mali. She made a conscious decision to come to Degedougou. She has been here 1
year and 8 monthsand she is quite content
with her work and her situation « because
I get a lot of clients. Last week I got 42 boys which gave me 42 000
francs and that is quite normal.[4]»
Ramata has been to school and has plans for the future : she wants to study
commerce.

(picture not relating directly to person mentioned )

All the 6 womenthatMaman spoke to said they insisted that
their clients used condoms.Of the 15
male gold workers 7 were married and none admitted to using prostitutes whereas
of the 8 bachelors interviewed 6 said they did. These 6 men all claimed to use
a condom. The reason for this safety measure varied :IsiakoBollo, a 23
year old from Sinikrola, Mali, said it
was because the girls themselves insisted on it. For the others it was a
question of personal health. A danger was identified because of the many
nationalities present. Malians, despite being so poor, have a strong national
pride and can be fairly chauvinistic. They often display a certain hauteur
vis-à-vis their neighbours. « Yes, I use a condom because there are men
from different countries here » said BadolayeKeita, a 25 year old from Segou. These
sentiments were echoed word for word by Ibrahima Diallo, a 20 year old from
Bamako.

There is a grain of truth in this
Maliansentiment as far as the spread of
HIV is concerned. The percentage of HIV/Aids infection in Mali at present is
0.9, while Burkina Faso lies marginally higher at 1%. The figure for the Ivory
Coast is significantly higher at 3.2%. (UNICEF).

The opening of the Morila gold mine
in Mali in 2000 brought a lot of prostitution to the area and HIV/aids
increased dramatically. The management of the mine was criticized for not doing
enough to stem the epidemic since their response was simply to put up posters
advocating the use of condoms. In 2001 the DHS Program reported 1.7%HIV/Aids in Mali with significantly higher
figures inthe neighbouring countries. A
major effort by many international NGOs to raise awareness of the dangers of
unprotected casual sex was launched in Mali and it seems that this effort,
sustained for more than a decade has borne fruit. Attitudes towards HIV are
changing.However gloomy the situation
in Degedougou for many reasons, the responses of our little sample of sex
workers and miners are encouraging in this area.

The village of Degedougou as we have
seen exists solely for the exploitation of gold. Itisan
unusual Malian village in that it has no mosque. The practise of orthodox
Islamis not evident and the open
soliciting of prostitutes indicates that the conventional morals of an African
Muslim society has broken down. However, there is one area in which Islam still
exercises a firm hold :Maraboutage
is the particular branch of Islamic magic practised by marabouts, Islamic ‘holy’ men who can be consulted for a fee in
order to find gold. Degedougou has a number of these, living from the
hard-earned gains of the miners and prospering through the wide spread African
certainty that the deities must be pacified and cajoled through sacrifice.
There is often only a very tenuous link between Islam and the magic purveyed by
the marabouts. The link is provided is that the magic formulaes that must be
written down to accompany the sacrifices are taken from the Arabic text of the
Koran. Stories of human sacrifice cannot be verified but are persistent and
likely to be true.This is is why the
first rule among gold workers is never to be alone. There is a widespread sense
among the gold workers that the very substance they are seeking belongs to the
devil. This is one of the interesting details that Maman told me which made us include
the following questions : ‘Does gold belong to the devil ?’ and ‘Can maraboutage help to find gold ?’
From our sample of 18 gold workers 14 said gold belonged to the devil.

Thedissenting voices came from LassinaKousbé a Burkinabé of 25 year who said
« it is not the devil : only chance makes one find gold » while
Mohamed Diallo from Guinea thought it was notfrom the devil butit was a gift
from God. OumarKané, a 35 year old married Malian from Koulikouro who has been
in Degedougou for 3 months said he thought it was not from the devil, itwasonly difficult to find. In his case this was vividly brought to the fore
when he said he had only earned 1600 francs the previousweek, an amount that would not have even
allowed him to eat.

MadouTraoré from Burkina Faso has
been in Degedougou a staggering 20 years. He would like to earn enough to
return to his native country. Therefore he would like to use a marabout but
cannot afford it.

The wish to return home is a
recurring theme that surfaces time and time again amongst those questioned. The
Malian- or African- family is a close-knit structure : parents rely on
their off-spring to provide for their old age and children take this
responsibility very seriously. In almost half (11) of the 23 people interviewed
the workers had not chosento go in
search of fortune on their own accord : 9 people said they had been sent
by their parents and two women gold workers had been sent by their husbands. To
be sent off in order to earn money appears not to have created any feelings of
ill will : not even the two sex workers put any blame on their parents for
sending them off to exercise their trade, and both said that if they managed to
earn any money their first priority was to give to their parents.

The lure of the gold and of fortune
is therefore often not a simple wish for personal gain : it is a wish for
an improved future for the extended family. « To go in search of
adventure » entails the dream of the glorious homecoming when the
successful adventurer is able to display and offer his or her treasure for the
benefit of the whole family. If these riches are not found the very return back
to the village becomes itself an impossible dream. MariamCamara from Banankoro in Guinea was sent by
her parents to work as a prostitute. She does not earn enough money and
therefore she says ‘I do not know how to return back to my family’.

Only one worker wanted to buy his
own ore crushing machine or gold prospecting device in order to set up and
become a patron in hisown right.All others expressed a wish to return home and to set up various
commercial ventures :KadidjaSidibé from Gao in Mali left her hometown with
her two children when she lost her husband in the recent war. Her children are
eight and ten and they help her in her work which is the washing of the
ore.Her dream is to return to Gao to
set up an embroidery studio, while ModiboTraoré from Koulikoro in Mali wants to
open a welding workshop. One or twohave
their minds set on more traditional pursuits : « I want to raise
cattle »saysMohammed Diallo from KanKan in Guinea.
BadoulayeYatouro, a 25 year old bachelor from Segou in Mali works on the ore
crushing machine. He says he could not find any work so he came « to save
his life and his future « . Yatouro’s dream is to go into
farming : « I want to be a good millet ; maize and ground nut
farmer » he says.

Maman’sundercover trip to the goldfields of Mandé
came up with some encouraging findings about the way attitudes towards HIV/Aids
have changed in a positive way. But most of all the questionnaire we devised
uncovered two dozen real lives : it proved once more what I have always
known to be true : Africans, and Malians in particular have a great capacity
for hope and an irrepressible desire to find a better future. In the midst of
their dailystruggle they still retain a
dignity and often a great generosity.I
retain from all the questionnaires the replies of MariamCamara, the 20 year old
sex worker from Banankoro in Guinea who arrived in Degedougou three months ago,
sent by her parents. When asked what she would do if she earned a lot of money
she replied that first she would giveto
her parents and then she wanted to build a shop to give to her little brother.

ENDS

Sophie Sarin and MamanCoulibaly May 2014

[1] In 2012 the Celebrity Net Worth
Website compiled aninflation adjusted
list of the richest people in the world of all time. With his $400 billion
fortune Mansa Musa I of the Malian Empire came out the clear winner.

Friday, January 02, 2015

The Shape of Time

What
we call the beginning is often the end

And
to make an end is to make a beginning.

The
end is where we start from.TS Eliot Little
Gidding.

New Year traditionally brings this inescapablemood of reflexion and sense of Tempus Fugit. Last evening at sunset I
was having drinks with Birgit and Andrea from Brazil, who I believe will
feature often again in the future in this journal since she is intending to
stay on indefinitely, and has even moved into my old flat at Dembele’s – see my
first blogs in 2006.

We were discussing the shape of time. I came forward once
more with my thesis that time is round, just like a clockface. We are now
sitting at the very top of the circle, and we are beginning our descent towards
mid summer and the bottom of the circle. For Andrea time is linear. She begins
at the beginning and continues forward in a straight line until the end. But
this seems very bleak to me – just straight ahead withoutany pleasant new beginnings?With the circular vision there is always new
chances. Not only the year but the day and night is circular too. She agreed
with this and we came to the conclusion that her time is a series of
revolutions in a straight line, like a ball that is rolling forward; each roll
is a day and eventually a year. But my time is not linear- it is definitely
circular and I see it more like the year circles in the stem of a tree.I do not remember what shape Birgit’stime has, must remember to ask...

On the fascinating and somewhat melancholy theme of time I must mentionthe manuscript in the Djenné Manuscript Library which Dmitry Bondarev and Yelpha is studying above. It dated 1665 and the scribe writes:

I who have written this will soon rest under the earth but what I have written will remain upon the earth. To you who will read my writing I ask pity and forgiveness for any faults and mistakes I have made.